Can This Startup Reinvent How Doggie Portraits Are Sold?

It’s no secret that pet owners are willing to spend lots of their discretionary income on everything from organic food to fancy grooming for their dogs and cats. The American Pet Products Association announced in March that spending in the pet industry hit a record $60.28 billion in 2015.

Many pet lovers are willing to splurge on extras that go beyond pampering, as David Lefkovits has found at his startup MyPoochFace.

The company, based in Atlanta, sells hand-painted, custom portraits of its clients’ furry friends, which include dogs, cats, and horses, among others. Acrylic paintings typically range from $495 to $790 when not on sale. MyPoochFace also sells digital portraits, which range from $229 to $359.

So far, MyPoochFace has shipped more than 2,300 portraits throughout the U.S., bringing in $480,000 in sales via a basic landing page the company launched in July 2015 and now through a permanent website that went live in February 2016, according to Lefkovits. One-quarter of those sales were generated in the past two months, Lefkovits says. He projects that the company will become profitable by the third quarter of 2017.

A portrait of a boxer by artist Aziz Kadmiri. Credit: MyPoochFace

So who is buying the portraits? Many of Lefkovits' customers want to memorialize pets who have passed, for themselves or for a family member, and react with tears when they see the finished portraits.

“What’s been most amazing to me is how emotional people get,” he says.

Lefkovits knows that he has plenty of competition in selling paintings of pets, often from local artists who live near pet lovers. “There’s nothing innovative about a pet portrait,” he says.

Where he hopes to stand out is by making it easy for clients to order custom portraits online. MyPoochFace relies on applications for ecommerce, marketing automation, customer service, work flow and analytics designed to deliver a more seamless and convenient experience than customers can get elsewhere.

“What we’re revolutionizing is the ability to buy commissioned art through a niche channel," he says.

MyPoochFace's efforts on this front have been generating some attention. The business won the MAX Award from The Atlanta Business Chronicle for marketing innovation. The publication recognized the startup for its "Scalable and Viral Pet Art Sales Platform." MyPoochFace was also selected by Facebook to be part of its global launch of Canvas, its mobile ad product.

The company is the first venture launched by Niche Digital Brands, where Lefkovits says he plans to develop online brands that “target massive markets with specialized and differentiated products.”

“Basically, if Amazon sells it, or has the ability to sell it, we are not interested,” he says.